Longmans Gazetteer Of The World Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from M'culloch's Universal Gazetteer, Vol. 2 of 2: A Dictionary, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the Various Countries, Places, and Principal Natural Objects in the World We have already stated enough to show that a variable land tax is, in all cases, most injurious to a country. It is understood to have been adopted by the authorities in India and England, in the expectation of enabling the government to participate in the advantages resulting from the improve ment of the old lands, and from the bringing of new or waste land into cultivation. But it is clear, as well from the ex perience of Madras itself as of all other countries in which it has been tried, that a continually varying land-tax is an insuperable barrier to all improvement; and that it is, in fact, a powerful cause, not of advancement, but of poverty and barbarism. But the power of periodically revising the assessment might be retained without perpetually tamper ing with the occupiers. The only effect of this 13 to pain lyze industry, to make those who are not-poor counterfeit poverty, and to hinder any outlay of capital on the land. To obviate these disastrous consequences, the proper plan would be to assess the occupiers at a reasonable rate, and to make the assessment invariable for a period of at least 40 or 50 years. An. Arrangement of this kind would give the ryots that security of which they are now wholly destitute; and would, we are hold to say, do ten times more to improve the Presidency than all the other measures it is possible to adopt, save that of making the assessment perpetual. This plan is, in fact, beginning to be tried in some parts of India and it has, we are assured, been attended with the best results. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.